Word.ws English Dictionary

vela

UK/ˈviːlə//ˈvilə/

vela is the plural of velum.

Meaning of velum

Noun

velum (plural vela or velums)

  1. The soft palate.
  2. A thin membrane partially covering the cluster of sporangia near the leaf base in quillworts and their extinct relatives.
  3. A veil-like membrane of immature mushrooms extending from the margin of the cap to the stem and is torn by growth, to reveal the gills.
  4. A locomotory and feeding organ provided with cilia found in the larval stage of bivalves.
  5. An annular membrane, typically bordering a cavity, especially in certain molluscs, medusae, and other invertebrates.
  6. A delicate membrane found on certain protists.

See all 8 meanings of velum

Proper noun capitalized: Vela

Vela

  1. A spring constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble the sails of a ship. Until 1763, it was part of a larger constellation, Argo Navis.

Origin of vela

Named by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1763. From Latin vēla (“sails of a ship”), plural of vēlum. Doublet of veil.

Words formed from vela

  • Velorum

Phrases with vela

Words that rhyme with vela

Questions about vela

What does vela mean?
Vela means a spring constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble the sails of a ship. Until 1763, it was part of a larger constellation, Argo Navis.
What is vela the plural of?
Vela is the plural of velum.
What part of speech is vela?
Vela is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce vela?
Vela is pronounced /ˈviːlə/ (UK).

Words near vela in the dictionary

  1. veksels
  2. vel
  3. vel non
  4. vel sim.
  5. vel.
  6. vela
  7. Vela Luka
  8. Velachery
  9. Velador
  10. Veladors
  11. velaglucerase

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: vela (page history and authors); Vela (page history and authors); velum (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-vela.wav.

Cite this entry: “vela.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vela. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.